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Apple peel drug makes mice live longer by targeting a cause of ageing

Anti-ageing drug quercetin is found in apple peel

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By Andy Coghlan

We’re beginning to understand the causes of ageing and how to reverse it – thanks to an extract from apple peel. A team has found that a combination of dasatinib – a leukaemia drug – and quercetin – an extract from apple peel – can make elderly mice live 36 per cent longer.

These drugs were chosen for their ability to selectively kill so-called senescent cells. These abnormal cells are in the process of breaking down, but they resist dying. They usually start appearing in the human body in our 60s, …